Critics of the OOXML format are speaking out after ISO's recent approval of …

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Following yesterday's announcement that Microsoft's Office Open XML format (OOXML) has been approved as an ISO standard, critics of OOXML are voicing support for the competing OpenDocument Format (ODF) and have expressed concerns about the future of document standards and of the ISO.

Red Hat's legal team published a statement criticizing the ISO fast track process and expressing disappointment with the outcome. "Will the real interoperability standard please stand up?" Red Hat's legal team wrote. "Red Hat thinks governments and enterprises are not so easily confused. The Open Document Format, which has long been a multiparty-supported ISO standard, will continue to be a force in procurement decisions to be reckoned with. Government and Enterprises are tired of the lack of choice, lack of innovation, and premium rents from vendor lock-in."

IBM issued a statement affirming ongoing support for ODF too, but also expresses interest in collaborating with ISO to improve interoperability between ODF and OOXML in the future. "IBM will continue to be an active supporter of ODF. We look forward to being part of the community that works to harmonize ODF and OOXML for the sake of consumers, companies and governments, when OOXML control and maintenance is fully transferred to JTC1 (ISO/IEC)," IBM told us.

Bob Sutor, IBM's executive vice president of standards, has some additional comments in a blog entry. He says that OOXML's path to ISO approval illuminates a number of notable flaws in the standards process that reflect a bigger and more important issue than OOXML itself. "I'm energized to take the bigger fight for openness to the next level with the thousands of individuals who are now convinced that the standards system needs fixing, and soon," he wrote.

A similar response came from Patrick Durusau, an ODF coeditor who has vocally supported ISO standardization for OOXML. Although Durusau believes that OOXML is a "poster child for the open standards development process," he says that ad hoc rules and "process failures" had a detrimental impact on the OOXML revision and approval effort. Durusau calls for standards process reforms and argues that ISO needs to be more inclusive.

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth was among those who criticized the outcome of the vote. "It's sad that the ISO was not willing to admit that its process was failing horribly," Shuttleworth said in an interview. "We're not going to invest in trying to implement a standard that is poorly defined."

Some questions remain about potential irregularities that cropped up during the voting process. The European Commission is investigating whether Microsoft committed any antitrust abuses during OOXML's journey through ISO. Developers are also evaluating prospects for harmonizing OOXML and ODF and will watch closely to make sure that Microsoft lives up to its promise to make Office conform to the actual documented specification.